


When Steve Wakes Up

by kbirb



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Nightmares, Past Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-08
Updated: 2014-04-08
Packaged: 2018-01-18 16:38:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1435405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kbirb/pseuds/kbirb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Steve is woken from his ice-nap, he begins to have nightmares. Some, actually most, include Bucky's death. They play over and over and he wakes up haunted by the memories of losing his best friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When Steve Wakes Up

When Steve woke up from the ice, it wasn’t easy. A new time, new adjustments, and then there were the nightmares. Those were the worst part of it all.  
Sometimes, he dreamt of crashing, crashing, crashing that big plane into the icy depths below. Often, he was wandering lost in the newer New York, the one with bigger building and flashier signs. More confusing and easy to get terrifyingly lost with no one around that you know. But mostly, Steve Rogers had nightmares of his right-hand man, Bucky, slipping from his grasp and falling down, down, dead.  
  
Steve’s first thoughts and first words were about Peggy Carter. “I had a date.” The bad Bucky dreams were probably punishment, he thought. After all, he should have been sadder about losing Buck, not Peggy.  
  
Steve found her in her assisted living facility and her face lit up when she saw him. They talked all the time; though Peggy didn’t really know Bucky, he would still talk to her about him, about watching Bucky slip out of his fingers. Not even metaphorically. Because of Peggy’s amnesia, she never remembered if he had told her a story already, so he could repeat them until his heart bled.  
  
It got easier as time progressed. Isn’t that how it always goes? Steve didn’t feel as lost; D.C. was less busy than New York. The people were friendlier. Natasha and Clint where there, Natasha more so, and they grew closer. He made a friend in Samuel Wilson, a guy he often ran past around the park. Visiting Peggy was always painful, but when she remembered him, it was beautiful. They would dance and have their date – just over and over because sometimes, even halfway through, her mind would reset. She would discover Steve again.  
  
The nightmares resided, mostly. But when the Smithsonian put up its Captain America exhibit, many of the memories became stronger. Including the painful ones. There was an entire section in the exhibit about “James Buchanan Barnes, Steve Roger’s best friend through thick and thin;” with a video of him and Steve laughing at base.  
  
It talked about the dynamic of their friendship. How Bucky had once looked after Steve when he was scrawny; how Steve looked after Bucky post-serum. It was the description, accompanied by the date and time of Bucky’s death, that brought the bad dreams back. Bucky was in all of them, even the ones that didn’t make sense. Bucky falling off of a building during the attack on New York. Bucky crashing the plane while Steve was in Peggy’s position. And the same, original dream- the memory of Bucky slipping from Steve’s grasp.  
  
So when the Winter Soldier appears and Steve realizes who he is, all he can think is “end of the line.” And he knows, he knows, he has to bring his best friend back.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this little ficlet during class when I should have been paying attention. But University can be boring and sometimes ideas take over. This can be viewed as a work for a BROTP or OTP depending on if you ship Stucky or if you just think of them as best friends. It's written to make sense for both perspectives. I've never written from Steve's POV before, nor have I actually written much Marvel at all. I'm used to writing Harry Potter or Supernatural. Hope this was good!


End file.
